Systems and methods for real-time streaming of flight data

ABSTRACT

A computer-implemented method for real-time streaming of flight data includes receiving flight data from one or more aircraft data sensors, evaluating the received flight data according to data evaluation rules, and upon determining that the received flight data matches one or more conditions specified in the data evaluation rules, starting or stopping a transmission of the received flight data to a ground station.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Various embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to thefield of flight data processing and, more particularly, to real-timestreaming of flight data.

BACKGROUND

Many aircraft, including most commercial aircraft, are equipped withflight data recorders (FDRs) and cockpit voice recorders (CVRs). Theserecorders are often combined in a single unit commonly referred to asthe “black box” or “flight recorder.” The FDR records the recent historyof a flight through numerous parameters collected several times persecond. The CVR records the sounds in the cockpit, including theconversation of the pilots. These recordings are often used tounderstand the circumstances of an accident or other event underinvestigation. However, recovery of the data recorded by the FDR and CVRrequires that the recorders be located and recovered after an incident,and that the recorded data is not damaged in an incident. Such recoverymay be difficult or impossible in some circumstances, such as a crash ofan aircraft in a deep ocean environment. Furthermore, the recorded datacannot be accessed until after the recorders have been recovered, thuspreventing safety or support personnel on the ground from accessing thereal-time data to better understand the condition of the aircraft or anincident in progress.

The present disclosure is directed to overcoming one or more of theseabove-referenced challenges.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

According to certain aspects of the present disclosure, systems andmethods are disclosed for real-time streaming of flight data.

In one embodiment, a computer-implemented method is disclosed forreal-time streaming of flight data, the method comprising: receivingflight data from one or more aircraft data sensors, evaluating thereceived flight data according to data evaluation rules, and upondetermining that the received flight data matches one or more conditionsspecified in the data evaluation rules, starting or stopping atransmission of the received flight data to a ground station.

In accordance with another embodiment, a system is disclosed forreal-time streaming of flight data, the system comprising: acommunication module and a real-time access recorder (RTAR), the RTARcomprising: a data storage device storing instructions for real-timestreaming of flight data in an electronic storage medium, and aprocessor configured to execute the instructions to perform a methodincluding: receiving flight data from one or more aircraft data sensors,evaluating the received flight data according to data evaluation rules,and upon determining that the received flight data matches one or moreconditions specified in the data evaluation rules, starting or stoppinga transmission of the received flight data to a ground station.

In accordance with another embodiment, a non-transitory machine-readablemedium storing instructions that, when executed by a computing system,causes the computing system to perform a method for real-time streamingof flight data, the method including: receiving flight data from one ormore aircraft data sensors, evaluating the received flight dataaccording to data evaluation rules, and upon determining that thereceived flight data matches one or more conditions specified in thedata evaluation rules, starting or stopping a transmission of thereceived flight data to a ground station.

Additional objects and advantages of the disclosed embodiments will beset forth in part in the description that follows, and in part will beapparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of thedisclosed embodiments. The objects and advantages of the disclosedembodiments will be realized and attained by means of the elements andcombinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory onlyand are not restrictive of the disclosed embodiments, as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate various exemplary embodiments andtogether with the description, serve to explain the principles of thedisclosed embodiments.

FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary operating environment for real-timestreaming of flight data, according to one or more embodiments.

FIG. 2 depicts an exemplary system infrastructure for real-timestreaming of flight data, according to one or more embodiments.

FIGS. 3A-3C depict exemplary system infrastructures for real-timestreaming of flight data, according to one or more embodiments.

FIG. 4 depicts an exemplary flow of information in a method of real-timestreaming of flight data, according to one or more embodiments.

FIG. 5 depicts a cloud-based services in a method of real-time streamingof flight data, according to one or more embodiments.

FIG. 6 depicts a flowchart of a method of real-time streaming of flightdata, according to one or more embodiments.

FIGS. 7A-7B depict a message flow in a method of real-time streaming offlight data, according to one or more embodiments.

FIG. 8 depicts an exemplary device in which one or more embodiments maybe implemented.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Various embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally toreal-time streaming of flight data.

The terminology used below may be interpreted in its broadest reasonablemanner, even though it is being used in conjunction with a detaileddescription of certain specific examples of the present disclosure.Indeed, certain terms may even be emphasized below; however, anyterminology intended to be interpreted in any restricted manner will beovertly and specifically defined as such in this Detailed Descriptionsection.

Any suitable system infrastructure may be put into place to allowreal-time streaming of flight data. The accompanying drawings and thefollowing discussion provide a brief, general description of a suitablecomputing environment in which the present disclosure may beimplemented. In one embodiment, any of the disclosed systems, methods,and/or graphical user interfaces may be executed by or implemented by acomputing system consistent with or similar to that depicted in theaccompanying drawings. Although not required, aspects of the presentdisclosure are described in the context of computer-executableinstructions, such as routines executed by a data processing device,e.g., a server computer, wireless device, and/or personal computer.Those skilled in the relevant art will appreciate that aspects of thepresent disclosure can be practiced with other communications, dataprocessing, or computer system configurations, including: Internetappliances, hand-held devices (including personal digital assistants(“PDAs”)), wearable computers, all manner of cellular or mobile phones(including Voice over IP (“VoIP”) phones), dumb terminals, mediaplayers, gaming devices, virtual reality devices, multi-processorsystems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics,set-top boxes, network PCs, mini-computers, mainframe computers, and thelike. Indeed, the terms “computer,” “server,” and the like, aregenerally used interchangeably herein, and refer to any of the abovedevices and systems, as well as any data processor.

Aspects of the present disclosure may be embodied in a special purposecomputer and/or data processor that is specifically programmed,configured, and/or constructed to perform one or more of thecomputer-executable instructions explained in detail herein. Whileaspects of the present disclosure, such as certain functions, aredescribed as being performed exclusively on a single device, the presentdisclosure may also be practiced in distributed environments wherefunctions or modules are shared among disparate processing devices,which are linked through a communications network, such as a Local AreaNetwork (“LAN”), Wide Area Network (“WAN”), and/or the Internet.Similarly, techniques presented herein as involving multiple devices maybe implemented in a single device. In a distributed computingenvironment, program modules may be located in both local and/or remotememory storage devices.

Aspects of the present disclosure may be stored and/or distributed onnon-transitory computer-readable media, including magnetically oroptically readable computer discs, hard-wired or preprogrammed chips(e.g., EEPROM semiconductor chips), nanotechnology memory, biologicalmemory, or other data storage media. Alternatively, computer implementedinstructions, data structures, screen displays, and other data underaspects of the present disclosure may be distributed over the Internetand/or over other networks (including wireless networks), on apropagated signal on a propagation medium (e.g., an electromagneticwave(s), a sound wave, etc.) over a period of time, and/or they may beprovided on any analog or digital network (packet switched, circuitswitched, or other scheme).

FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary operating environment for real-timestreaming of flight data, according to one or more embodiments. As shownin FIG. 1, flight data systems aboard an aircraft 110 may stream flightdata to a ground station 130 by way of a satellite 120. Ground station130 may then transmit the flight data to a server 140, where it may bestored for further processing. Although data transmission via satelliteis depicted in FIG. 1, it is to be understood that other means of datatransmission may be employed. For example, flight data may be streamedfrom aircraft 110 to ground station by way of a cellular data network, adirect radio connection, or other wireless network. Such alternate meansof data transmission may stream the flight data directly to server 140rather than by way of ground station 130. Server 130 may store andmaintain data received from multiple aircraft across a fleet ofaircraft. The data stored on server 130 may be used to provide analytics150 to aircraft or fleet operators, such as, for example, flightoperational quality assurance (FOQA), flight data monitoring (FDM),flight data analysis (FDA), maintenance operational quality assurance(MOQA), flight condition alarms, distress events, etc. Analytics 150 maybe used by safety personnel 160 to monitor flight status, transmitcommands to, for example, aircraft 110, flight crew, the aircraft datasystems, etc., request additional information from, for example, server130, aircraft 110, the aircraft data systems, etc., or perform regularmaintenance of a cockpit voice recorder/flight data recorder (CVFFDR).

FIG. 2 depicts a schematic overview of exemplary system infrastructurefor real-time streaming of flight data 200, according to one or moreembodiments. As shown in FIG. 2, aircraft flight data 200 may includeaircraft data 210 and cockpit camera/audio data 260. Aircraft data 210may be provided to a real time access recorder (RTAR) 240 and to adigital flight data acquisition unit (DFDAU) 220. DFDAU 220 may provideaircraft data 210 to a flight data recorder (FDR) 230, where it may berecorded. Cockpit camera/audio data 260 may be provided to RTAR 240 andto an audio management unit (AMU) 270. AMU 270 may provide cockpitcamera/audio data 260 to a cockpit voice recorder (CVR) 280, where itmay be recorded. RTAR 240 may provide aircraft data 210 and cockpitcamera/audio data 260 to a communication module 250. Communicationmodule 250 may transmit aircraft data 210 and cockpit camera/audio data260 to a ground station, such as ground station 130 depicted in FIG. 1.Although depicted as separate units, FDR 230 and CVR 280 may be combinedin a single cockpit voice recorder/flight data recorder CVRFDR, such asCVRFDR 310 depicted in FIGS. 3A-3C.

RTAR 240 may be hosted on a line replaceable unit (LRU) having directaccess to aircraft data 210 and cockpit camera/audio data 260 datastreams. The functions provided by RTAR 240 may be host platformindependent and could be hosted in various LRUs depending on availableCPU/RAM resources of the LRU. For example, RTAR 240 may be hosted in asatellite communication terminal (SATCOM), FDR 230 or CVRFDR 310, DFDAU220, a quick access recorder (QAR) unit, such as a streaming QAR. RTAR240 may be configured to stream compressed or uncompressed data streamcomprising aircraft data 210 and cockpit camera/audio data 260. However,additional data streams may be also be available. RTAR 240 may beconfigured to parse frames of streamed data down to parameters level toin order to possibly reduce bandwidth of streamed data. RTAR 240 may beconfigured to be reconfigured remotely, such as by safety or supportpersonnel on the ground. RTAR 240 may be configured to differentiateparameters of streamed data and create multiple data streams. Forexample, aircraft data 210 may be streamed over secured satellitetransmission, such as SBB-S, while cockpit camera/audio data 260 may beencrypted and streamed over a radio transmission, such as K_(a) band.RTAR 240 may be configured to provide enhanced cyber security and dataprotection to ensure data are properly encrypted.

As discussed above, RTAR 240 may be hosted in various LRUs depending onavailable CPU/RAM resources of the LRU. Accordingly, RTAR 240 may belocated in various locations within aircraft 110. Furthermore, multipleRTAR 240 units may be present in a single aircraft. FIGS. 3A-3C depictexemplary system infrastructures for real-time streaming of flight data,in which RTAR 240 is deployed in various LRUs in various locations inaircraft 110, according to one or more embodiments.

As shown in FIG. 3A, aircraft 110 may be equipped with multiple CVRFDRLRUs, such as, for example, a front CVRFDR 310 a, which may be locatedin the front section of aircraft 110, and a tail CVRFDR 310 b, which maybe located in the tail section of aircraft 110. RTAR 240 may be deployedas a component of any CVRFDR present in aircraft 110, or may be deployedas components of multiple CVRFDR units. If multiple RTAR units aredeployed, then one or more RTAR units may be disabled. For example, asshown in FIG. 3C, RTAR 240 deployed with CVRFDR 310B may be disabled.Alternatively, in some configurations, one CVRFDR, such as front CVRFDR310 a may provide data from CVR 280 to adjacent RTAR 240 and anotherCVRFDR, such as tail CVRFDR 310 b may provide data from FDR 230 toadjacent RTAR 240. In such a configuration, more than one RTAR 240 maybe active. Each CVRFDR may include a WiFi communication module 320 and alocal area network (LAN) port 330 for communications functions. Forexample, LAN port 330 may be used to communicate with communicationmodule 250.

As shown in FIG. 3A, because RTAR 240 is located with FDR 230, access toall mandatory flight data recorded by FDR 230 is assured. Likewise,locating RTAR 240 with CVR 280 assures access to all mandatory cockpitaudio recorded by CVR 280. Cockpit audio may be converted from analog todigital, and all necessary circuits including encoding/decoding (codec)circuits and analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) may be provided as partof CVR 280. In addition, CVRFDR 310 is a mandatory LRU, so adding theRTAR functionality may provide additional value from a required LRU.Making use of an existing LRU that receives the necessary data mayreduce integration cost by eliminating extra wiring needed to install anadditional LRU. Such a configuration further may ensure that RTAR 240receives the same data samples recorded by crash-protected memory in FDR230 and CVR 280 without any differences in sample rates or timing.

As discussed above, aircraft 110 may be equipped with DFDAU 220. DFDAU220 may be housed in an LRU, such as LRU DFDAU 340 depicted in FIG. 3B.In such a configuration, RTAR 240 may be housed within LRU DFDAU 340 andmay receive flight data from DFDAU 220 and cockpit voice data from AMU270, depicted in FIG. 3B. Such a configuration may provide access to allparameters available on various buses that are made available to DFDAU220. In addition, CVRFDR 310 is an existing LRU, so adding the RTARfunctionality may provide additional value from an existing LRU. Makinguse of an existing LRU that receives the necessary data may reduceintegration cost by eliminating extra wiring needed to install anadditional LRU. Such a configuration may represent a system centricsolution, with RTAR 240 being located at the source of the data to berecorded or streamed.

As discussed above, aircraft 110 may be equipped with communicationmodule 250 that may transmit aircraft data 210 and cockpit camera/audiodata 260 to a ground station, such as ground station 130 depicted inFIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 3C, RTAR 240 and communication interface 250may be housed in a communication module LRU 350. Such a configurationmay allow RTAR 240 to be deployed close to the point of datatransmission and, thus, having RTAR 240 and communication interface 250in a single LRU. This configuration allows a single manufacturer toprovide RTAR 240 and communication interface 250, potentially avoidingcosts associated with integrating devices from multiple manufacturers.

FIG. 4 depicts an exemplary flow of information in a method of real-timestreaming of flight data, according to one or more embodiments. As shownin FIG. 4, system administrator 405 may operate configuration tool 410to process configuration data 415 and flight recorder electronicdocumentation (FRED) 420. Such processing may produce a configuration450 for RTAR 240 and one or more data evaluation rules 455 based on FRED420 and configuration data 415. Such processing may be performed priorto a flight by aircraft 110, and may be performed elsewhere than onboard aircraft 110. The generated configuration for RTAR 240 and one ormore data evaluation rules may be transmitted to RTAR 240. RTAR 240 maythen be configured according to the generated configuration data.

During a flight by aircraft 110, RTAR 240 may receive aircraft data 210from one or more aircraft systems. The received aircraft data 210 may beprocessed according the one or more data evaluation rules. This mayallow RTAR 240 to operate in different configurations according to thedesires of the aircraft operator and/or controlling regulations. Forexample, RTAR 240 may operate in a minimalistic streamer mode in whichRTAR 240 acquires aircraft data 210 and parses it without the FREDspecification information 420. That is, RTAR 240 may parse aircraft data210 on the level of individual frames. Without the FRED specification,it is possible to recognize frames, but individual parameters within theframes are may not be recognized. The frames may then be stored in localstorage 425 or streamed un-decoded to ground station 130 for storage andfurther processing. Alternatively, RTAR 240 may operate in a contextcapable streamer mode in which RTAR 240 parses aircraft data 210according to the FRED specification information 420. Parsing dataaccording to the FRED specification, may allow RTAR 240 to recognizeindividual parameters within the frames of aircraft data 210. Knowledgeof the individual parameters may allow RTAR 240 to perform enhancedfunctions such as, for example, data selection for a subset ofparameters or information contained within aircraft data 210, dataevaluation and application of trigger logic to allow selective responsesbased on the presence and values of certain parameters within aircraftdata 210, output format change to save or stream aircraft data 210 in aformat other than the native format produced by the aircraft systems,enhanced context compression to further reduce the stored or streamedsize of aircraft data 210.

In another alternative, RTAR 240 may operate in a distress streamer modein which RTAR 240 acquires aircraft data 210 and parses it on the levelof individual parameters. A distress or trigger logic may be loaded atrun time, such as in the configuration or data evaluation rules, or maybe built in RTAR 240 to evaluate the individual parameters of aircraftdata 210 and trigger a specific action. This action may be definedalongside the trigger logic or can be built into the system. The actionmay be, for example, starting or stopping transmission of aircraft data210 at given rate, modifying the rate at which aircraft data 210 istransmitted, starting or stopping transmission of voice data 260,sending a signal to other aircraft systems. Such a configuration may,for example, allow RTAR 240 to recognize, based on the parsed parametersof aircraft data 210, certain conditions of aircraft 110 under whichstreaming of aircraft data 210 and voice data 260 to ground station 130should be initiated. Such selective streaming of aircraft data 210 andvoice data 260 may provide advantages in reducing costs to the operatorof aircraft 110, such as for access to satellite 120, in reducing theuse of processing power and storage capacity of RTAR 240, etc.

Aircraft data 210 and voice data 260 may be provided to communicationmodule 250, which may transmit aircraft data 210 and voice data 260 mayto ground station 445. At ground station 445, aircraft data 210 andvoice data 260 may be stored in data archive 430, from which aircraftdata 210 and voice data 260 may be further analyzed using tools 435.Aircraft data 210 and voice data 260 may be provided to a user interface(UI) 440 by which ground personnel 160 may further analyze aircraft data210 and voice data 260. Ground personnel 160 may take further actionsbased on the analysis including, for example, sending commands to groundstation 445 to be relayed to aircraft 110 by way of communication module250. The commands may include commands to, for example, controlcommunication module 250, control RTAR 240, control other aircraftsystems, relay information to personnel on aircraft 110, etc.

FIG. 5 depicts a cloud-based services in a method of real-time streamingof flight data, according to one or more embodiments. As shown in FIG.5, RTAR 240 may communicate with gateway 510 in order to provide data toone or more services hosted in could-based environment 520. Suchcloud-based services may include, for example, firmware upgrades forRTAR 240 or other devices, registration and provisioning for RTAR 240 orother devices, providing analytics on the streamed data from RTAR 240,providing data storage for the streamed data from RTAR 240, etc. Accessto the cloud-based services, such as stream analytics and stored datamay be provided to ground personnel 160 by way of an applicationprogramming interface (API). An interface to the cloud-based servicesfor RTAR 240 and/or gateway 510 may be provided by way of a scale unitproviding, for example, an API and/or a ghost device.

FIG. 6 depicts a flowchart of a method of real-time streaming of flightdata, according to one or more embodiments. As shown in FIG. 6, atoperation 605, RTAR 240 may receive flight data from aircraft datasensors. At operation 610, RTAR 240 may determine whether the datatransmission is conditional. If the data transmission is notconditional, then RTAR 240 may continue with operation 640. If datatransmission is conditional, then RTAR 240 may continue with operation615. At operation 615, RTAR 240 may process configuration data 415. Atoperation 620, RTAR 240 may generate data evaluation rules based on theprocessing of configuration data 415. At operation 625, RTAR 240 mayevaluate the flight data according to the generated rules. At operation630, RTAR 240 may determine whether the flight data matches one or moreconditions specified in the generated rules. If the flight data does notmatch the one or more conditions, then RTAR 240 may return to operation605. If flight data matches one or more conditions, then RTAR 240 maycontinue with operation 635. At operation 635, RTAR 240 may perform oneor more operations such as, for example, starting or stopping atransmission of the flight data to ground station 130, modifying thetransmission of the flight data to ground station 130, starting orstopping transmission of voice data to ground station 130, or sending asignal to an aircraft system. After performing operation 635, RTAR 240may return to operation 605 to receive additional flight data from theaircraft data sensors. At operation 640, after determining that datatransmission is not conditional, RTAR 240 may transmit the flight dataand/or voice data to ground station 130. After performing operation 640,RTAR 240 may return to operation 605 to receive additional flight datafrom the aircraft data sensors.

FIGS. 7A-7B depict a message flow in a method of real-time streaming offlight data, according to one or more embodiments. As shown in FIGS.7A-7B, at operation 705, configuration tool 415 may process FRED 420 togenerate data evaluation rules. At operation 710, configuration tool 415may transmit configuration data 415 and the generated data evaluationrules to RTAR 240. At operation 715, RTAR 240 may configure RTAR 240based on the transmitted configuration data. At operation 720, aircraftsystems may send flight data 210 and cockpit voice data 260 to RTAR 240.At operation 725, RTAR 240 may save flight data 210, cockpit voice data260, and other data to local storage 425. At operation 730, RTAR 240 mayevaluate flight data 210 according to the received data evaluationrules. At operation 735, RTAR 240 may start or stop a transmission offlight data 210 to ground station 445 by way of communication module250. This operation may be based on the received data evaluation rules.At operation 740, RTAR 240 may modify the transmission of the flightdata 210. This operation may be based on the received data evaluationrules. At operation 745, RTAR 240 may start or stop a transmission ofvoice data 260 to ground station 445 by way of communication module 250.This operation may be based on the received data evaluation rules. Atoperation 750, RTAR 240 may send a signal to an aircraft system. Thisoperation may be based on the received data evaluation rules. Atoperation 755, communication module 250 may transmit the flight data andvoice data to ground station 445.

FIG. 8 illustrates a high-level functional block diagram of an exemplarydevice 800, in which embodiments of the present disclosure, or portionsthereof, may be implemented, e.g., as computer-readable code. Forexample, each of the exemplary systems, user interfaces and methodsdescribed above with respect to FIGS. 1-7 can be implemented in device800 using hardware, software, firmware, tangible computer readable mediahaving instructions stored thereon, or a combination thereof and may beimplemented in one or more computer systems or other processing systems.Hardware, software, or any combination of such may implement each of theexemplary systems, user interfaces and methods described above withrespect to FIGS. 1-7.

If programmable logic is used, such logic may execute on a commerciallyavailable processing platform or a special purpose device. One ofordinary skill in the art may appreciate that embodiments of thedisclosed subject matter can be practiced with various computer systemconfigurations, including multi-core multiprocessor systems,minicomputers, mainframe computers, computer linked or clustered withdistributed functions, as well as pervasive or miniature computers thatmay be embedded into virtually any device.

For instance, at least one processor device and a memory may be used toimplement the above described embodiments. A processor device may be asingle processor, a plurality of processors, or combinations thereof.Processor devices may have one or more processor “cores.”

Various embodiments of the present disclosure, as described above in theexamples of FIGS. 1-7 may be implemented using device 800. After readingthis description, it will become apparent to a person skilled in therelevant art how to implement embodiments of the present disclosureusing other computer systems and/or computer architectures. Althoughoperations may be described as a sequential process, some of theoperations may in fact be performed in parallel, concurrently, and/or ina distributed environment, and with program code stored locally orremotely for access by single or multi-processor machines. In addition,in some embodiments the order of operations may be rearranged withoutdeparting from the spirit of the disclosed subject matter.

As shown in FIG. 8, device 800 may include a central processing unit(CPU) 820. CPU 820 may be any type of processor device including, forexample, any type of special purpose or a general purpose microprocessordevice. As will be appreciated by persons skilled in the relevant art,CPU 820 also may be a single processor in a multi-core/multiprocessorsystem, such system operating alone, or in a cluster of computingdevices operating in a cluster or server farm. CPU 820 may be connectedto a data communication infrastructure 810, for example, a bus, messagequeue, network, or multi-core message-passing scheme.

Device 800 may also include a main memory 840, for example, randomaccess memory (RAM), and may also include a secondary memory 830.Secondary memory 830, e.g., a read-only memory (ROM), may be, forexample, a hard disk drive or a removable storage drive. Such aremovable storage drive may comprise, for example, a floppy disk drive,a magnetic tape drive, an optical disk drive, a flash memory, or thelike. The removable storage drive in this example reads from and/orwrites to a removable storage unit in a well-known manner. The removablestorage unit may comprise a floppy disk, magnetic tape, optical disk,etc. which is read by and written to by the removable storage drive. Aswill be appreciated by persons skilled in the relevant art, such aremovable storage unit generally includes a computer usable storagemedium having stored therein computer software and/or data.

In alternative implementations, secondary memory 830 may include othersimilar means for allowing computer programs or other instructions to beloaded into device 800. Examples of such means may include a programcartridge and cartridge interface (such as that found in video gamedevices), a removable memory chip (such as an EPROM, or PROM) andassociated socket, and other removable storage units and interfaces,which allow software and data to be transferred from a removable storageunit to device 800.

Device 800 may also include a communications interface (“COM”) 860.Communications interface 860 allows software and data to be transferredbetween device 800 and external devices. Communications interface 860may include a modem, a network interface (such as an Ethernet card), acommunications port, a PCMCIA slot and card, or the like. Software anddata transferred via communications interface 860 may be in the form ofsignals, which may be electronic, electromagnetic, optical, or othersignals capable of being received by communications interface 860. Thesesignals may be provided to communications interface 860 via acommunications path of device 800, which may be implemented using, forexample, wire or cable, fiber optics, a phone line, a cellular phonelink, an RF link or other communications channels.

The hardware elements, operating systems and programming languages ofsuch equipment are conventional in nature, and it is presumed that thoseskilled in the art are adequately familiar therewith. Device 800 alsomay include input and output ports 850 to connect with input and outputdevices such as keyboards, mice, touchscreens, monitors, displays, etc.Of course, the various server functions may be implemented in adistributed fashion on a number of similar platforms, to distribute theprocessing load. Alternatively, the servers may be implemented byappropriate programming of one computer hardware platform.

Other embodiments of the disclosure will be apparent to those skilled inthe art from consideration of the specification and practice of theinvention disclosed herein. It is intended that the specification andexamples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spiritof the invention being indicated by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method for real-timestreaming of flight data, the method comprising: receiving aconfiguration for a real-time access recorder (RTAR) and data evaluationrules for evaluating flight data using the RTAR, wherein theconfiguration for the RTAR and the data evaluation rules are based atleast in part on a flight recorder electronic documentation andconfiguration data, wherein the configuration for the RTAR configuresthe RTAR to be active or disabled on a communication module, a digitalflight data acquisition unit, a flight data recorder, a cockpit voicerecorder, or a cockpit voice recorder/flight data recorder in a streamermode, a context capable streamer mode, or a distress streamer mode; andwhen the RTAR is active: receiving flight data from one or more aircraftdata sensors; evaluating the received flight data according to thereceived data evaluation rules; and upon determining that the receivedflight data matches one or more conditions specified in the receiveddata evaluation rules, starting or stopping a transmission of thereceived flight data to a ground station.
 2. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 1, wherein the received flight data comprises parameterscollected from one or more avionics systems and cockpit audio data. 3.The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the transmission ofthe received flight data is by way of a satellite data stream, acellular data network, or a direct radio connection.
 4. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving,from the ground station, commands to control one or more components ofan aircraft.
 5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, furthercomprising: upon determining that the received flight data matches theone or more conditions specified in the received data evaluation rules,performing one or more additional operations on the received flightdata, the one or more additional operations including at least one of:modifying a transmission rate of the received flight data to the groundstation; starting or stopping a transmission of related voice data tothe ground station; and sending a signal to at least one aircraftsystem.
 6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, furthercomprising, when the RTAR is in the context capable streamer mode:parsing frames of the receiving flight data; and compressing thereceiving flight data based on parameters of the parsed frames.
 7. Asystem for real-time streaming of flight data, the system comprising: acommunication module; and a first real-time access recorder (RTAR)comprising: a data storage device storing instructions for real-timestreaming of flight data in an electronic storage medium; and aprocessor configured to execute the instructions to perform a methodincluding: receiving a configuration for the first RTAR and dataevaluation rules for evaluating flight data, wherein the configurationfor the first RTAR and the data evaluation rules are based at least inpart on a flight recorder electronic documentation and configurationdata, wherein the configuration for the first RTAR configures the firstRTAR to be active or disabled on the communication module, a digitalflight data acquisition unit, a flight data recorder, a cockpit voicerecorder, or a cockpit voice recorder/flight data recorder (CVRFDR) in astreamer mode, a context capable streamer mode, or a distress streamermode; and when the first RTAR is active: receiving flight data from oneor more aircraft data sensors; evaluating the received flight dataaccording to the received data evaluation rules; and upon determiningthat the received flight data matches one or more conditions specifiedin the received data evaluation rules, starting or stopping atransmission of the received flight data to a ground station.
 8. Thesystem of claim 7, wherein the received flight data comprises parameterscollected from one or more avionics systems and cockpit audio data. 9.The system of claim 7, wherein the transmission of the received flightdata is by way of a satellite data stream, a cellular data network, or adirect radio connection.
 10. The system of claim 7, the performed methodfurther comprising: receiving, from the ground station, commands tocontrol one or more components of an aircraft.
 11. The system of claim7, the performed method further comprising: upon determining that thereceived flight data matches the one or more conditions specified in thereceived data evaluation rules, performing one or more additionaloperations on the received flight data, the one or more additionaloperations including at least one of: modifying a transmission rate ofthe received flight data to the ground station; starting or stopping atransmission of related voice data to the ground station; and sending asignal to at least one aircraft system.
 12. The system of claim 7, theperformed method further comprising, when the first RTAR is in thecontext capable streamer mode: parsing frames of the receiving flightdata; and compressing the receiving flight data based on parameters ofthe parsed frames.
 13. The system of claim 7, wherein the first RTAR isa component of the communication module.
 14. The system of claim 7,wherein the first RTAR is a component of the CVRFDR.
 15. The system ofclaim 14, wherein the CVRFDR is a first CVRFDR, and the system furtherincludes a second CVRFDR comprising a second RTAR, wherein one of thefirst RTAR and the second RTAR is disabled.
 16. A non-transitorymachine-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by acomputing system, causes the computing system to perform a method forreal-time streaming of flight data, the method including: receiving aconfiguration for a real-time access recorder (RTAR) and data evaluationrules for evaluating flight data using the RTAR, wherein theconfiguration for the RTAR and the data evaluation rules are based atleast in part on a flight recorder electronic documentation andconfiguration data, wherein the configuration for the RTAR configuresthe RTAR to be active or disabled on a communication module, a digitalflight data acquisition unit, a flight data recorder, a cockpit voicerecorder, or a cockpit voice recorder/flight data recorder in a streamermode, a context capable streamer mode, or a distress streamer mode; andwhen the RTAR is active: receiving flight data from one or more aircraftdata sensors; evaluating the received flight data according to thereceived data evaluation rules; and upon determining that the receivedflight data matches one or more conditions specified in the receiveddata evaluation rules, starting or stopping a transmission of thereceived flight data to a ground station.
 17. The non-transitorymachine-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the received flight datacomprises parameters collected from one or more avionics systems andcockpit audio data.
 18. The non-transitory machine-readable medium ofclaim 16, wherein the transmission of the received flight data is by wayof a satellite data stream, a cellular data network, or a direct radioconnection.
 19. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 16,the method further comprising: receiving, from the ground station,commands to control one or more components of an aircraft.
 20. Thenon-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 16, the method furthercomprising: upon determining that the received flight data matches theone or more conditions specified in the received data evaluation rules,performing one or more additional operations on the received flightdata, the one or more additional operations including at least one of:modifying a transmission rate of the received flight data to the groundstation; starting or stopping a transmission of related voice data tothe ground station; and sending a signal to at least one aircraftsystem.